Stronger than Death
by Lunar Kitty
Summary: A oneshot of Byakuya and Hisana, Byakuya's POV. Has nothing to do with Dark  Please RR! It's a great read, I promise P


**A/N: This is a random one-shot written just for my Bya/Hisa lovers. It has nothing to do with "I'll Follow you into the Dark".**

**Suggested listening (as this is a song fic –" I wanna Grow Old with You" by Westlife)**

**Stronger than Death**

_Another day without your smile_

_Another day just passes by_

_And now I know_

_How much it means_

_For you to stay _

_Right here with me_

Byakuya leaned heavily against the cold stone of the marble slab, a single, crystalline gem fashioned and faceted to gleam against the everlasting fire that burned beneath the ancient cherry tree hovering over his head, its deep pink petals falling gently down to carpet the ground around him, the only bare surface that beneath his billowing robes, his eyes shut as he held his sword tightly, his knuckles white.

_The time we spend apart will make our love grow stronger_

_But it hurts so bad I can't take it any longer_

He fingered the small shrine next to the tomb gently, lighting the incense next to him with a gentle flare of his kidou, the sweet scent of cherry blossoms and sweat pea bringing back memories of dark waves of hair in his face, soft skin beneath his fingers as they trailed down a bare back, leaving red welts while brown eyes stared, like chocolate, pooling as her soft cries reached his ears.

_I wanna grow old with you_

_I wanna die lying in your arms_

_I wanna grow old with you_

_I wanna be looking in your eyes_

_I wanna be there for you,_

_Sharing in everything you do_

_I wanna grow old with you_

He cried then, his cheeks blistering in the still chilly spring air, his hair, down and unadorned like she had preferred, her fingers trailing through the soft strands, massaging his scalp as he pondered over tedious documents, her giggles a welcome exchange to paper rustling and quill scratching, her voice, her smile, her sigh, all laying him bare, down to the bones, exposing him at the core.

_A thousand miles,_

_Between us now_

_It causes me to wonder how_

_Our love remains so strong_

_It makes our risk right all along_

He stood, after what felt like an eternity, his casual navy yukata flowing behind him as he turned, shoes stepping numbly onto the tiny, worn path that was worn so diligently through a field of waving winter grasses, the same frozen footprints stepped in by the same frozen feet day after day, the same clenched fists tightly clinging to soft fabric. Her voice echoed in his ears, her footprints on his heart, his chest tightening as he bit the inside of his lip, his throat full of a ball of something wound so tightly that he couldn't stand it any longer.

He ran then, ran as far as he could, as fast as he could. Away from that tree, away from that permanent gleaming stone, away from that memory that mocked him, tore at him, that wanted to rip out of his soul and throw everything he had here away. Never had he felt so betrayed, so hollow, so bitter.

_The time we spend apart will make our love go stronger_

_But it hurts so bad I can't take it any longer_

Death was his enemy. Death had taken her from him, whisked her away into the world of the living, her laughter ripped from his ears, her skin from his touch, her love…

He paused then, his heart thudding painfully in his chest as he fell to his knees, fists pounding vainly into the hard ground.

It was her love, so strong, so burning, like that everlasting flame that haunted him the most. Out of all the things that she had given him, it was this lingering feeling, this emotion that drew him into grief. Her love had changed his rooms, changed the flowers in his gardens, changed the food in his memory. Every day was a mockery of what she had left him, everything she had left behind. Her robes hanging beside his own, her own tiny shoes still laying cluttered on the closet floor, the closet he always chastised her about for never putting them where they belonged.

_I wanna grow old with you_

_I wanna die lying in your arms_

_I wanna grow old with you_

_I wanna be looking in your eyes_

_I wanna be there for you_

_Sharing in everything you do_

_I wanna grow old with you_

Her perfume sat on his desk, her diary on his writing table, her vanity, coated with dust, untouched, her combs, her brush, her dark hairs still clinging to its bone handle. Her make-up, her smell fading day by day from the corners of the house as futons were shook loose in the spring sunshine.

That blanket, that beautiful blanket that had warmed her so diligently as the first cherry blossoms bloomed only weeks ago, bloomed with fresh life as she had expired, her hand falling from his grip as her eyes had fluttered shut with a sigh of relief and sadness, his broken sobs echoing throughout the house as he, who had never cried, never shown any emotion at all, felt scream after agonizing scream tearing through his body, breaking him apart as he willed her to open her eyes, open her lips one last time.

_Things can come and go I know but  
Baby I believe  
Something's burning strong between us  
Makes it clear to me_

And as the shell that had once held the soul of someone so dear to him, so precious, so unbelievably sacred, was laid into the ground, he had been laid bare in front of hundreds of onlookers, his fists holding the casket as it was lifted to be sealed in the tomb, his tears falling atop its stone surface, shining like diamonds in the brilliant spring sunshine as his lips had touched her ice cold ones, a last kiss, a last attempt to wake the slumbering princess.

And he himself had closed the tomb, watched it numbly as it sealed itself magically, leaving her fragile form inside.

_I wanna grow old with you_

_I wanna die lying in your arms_

_I wanna be grow old with you_

_I wanna be looking in your eyes_

_I wanna be there for you_

_Sharing in everything you do_

_I wanna grow old with you_

She didn't hurt. She didn't feel. She was impervious to him, impervious to his tears, impervious to his sorrow. Unable to even reach out and touch him, unable to look, or speak, or touch, or hear.

She was gone. And he was alone.

Left with nothing to do, but to wait. Wait for that day when perhaps she would waltz back into his life like she had never left, her love, still lingering, reawakening with full force as she returned to his arms wholeheartedly. Wait and sit by her grave, that hollow husk inside, a mockery of what had once embraced life wholeheartedly inside of it.

_I wanna die lying in your arms_

_I wanna grow old with you_

_I wanna be looking in your eyes_

_I wanna be there for you_

_Sharing in everything you do_

And if it that meant that Hisana would hold him in his arms as he died one day, if they both, holding hands, followed each other into death, one never leaving the other behind, then he would wait.

Wait until time stopped moving, all for the chance to grow old with Hisana.

_I wanna grow old with you_


End file.
